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That’s how I felt watching the Super Bowl halftime show.
So much of what we see in entertainment is a celebration of wealth, and so little is about the simple things that matter - things like working in the fields, seniors socializing, neighborhood businesses, dancing on an old pickup truck, fixing power lines, and a wedding. Those were the things that Bad Bunny portrayed in the Super Bowl halftime show.
It had some spice because it came from a part of our country that we don’t see much of, Puerto Rico, and was sung in a language that isn’t English, but what made it stand out for me was how it elevated values that are universal and scenes that are everyday. It told us that living in the barrio is good enough. In fact, it’s wonderful.
For Hispanic Americans, the show meant more. I watched with the Argentinian side of my family, and the next day, I asked some of our Latino staff how they reacted. The responses were emotional.
They told me that watching millions of Americans celebrating Latino culture, despite being told by President Trump that they shouldn’t, was a powerful experience. It was as though the giant message displayed in the stadium, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” might actually be true. For some, it was hearing that maybe there is a place in this country for me and my family after all.
One of those conversations, the one with our Office of Multicultural Affairs Director Alison Flores, was recorded for Pittman and Friends Podcast and will be released on Tuesday. We don’t only talk about the halftime show. We dig deep into her family’s immigration story, how life as an immigrant here has changed in the last year, and why there is a case for optimism. I hope it will be widely shared.
But why the halftime show controversy? Why the resistance to having the most streamed musician on the planet selected to entertain us at the Super Bowl? We’ve had British, Canadian, Colombian, Irish, and Barbadian headliners, and Bad Bunny is an American. And he’s certainly not the first to have had some policy differences with the incumbent American President.
Rather than attempting to explain the MAGA boycott, I’ll simply note that its only impact was to boost ratings and views. More Americans are now dancing with Bad Bunny and grooving to Latino culture. That’s good for America, North and South.
It was an honor to be on the floor just feet away from the Governor for his State of the State address on Wednesday. There is no question in my mind that this Governor from outside the political establishment is finding his stride and shaking things up in Annapolis. I’m ok with that.
His speech reminded me how important it is in these times to play both defense and offense, to defend our people from the harm some try to inflict on them while aggressively working to move us forward, to grow our economy in ways that leave no one behind.
But the most moving moment for me was to see in the balcony, Pastor Daniel Omar Fuentes Espinal of Easton.
“In the spring, Pastor Omar watched his son graduate from high school and gave the eulogy to one of his son's best friends all within a matter of weeks,” the Governor said.
“And then, Pastor Omar was abducted and detained by ICE. They took him from his family. They put him in a detention facility in Louisiana, thousands of miles from home.
“But the community stepped up. They fought for his release. And Pastor Omar is here with us today.”
And then the Governor spoke directly to the pastor in Spanish. “Siempre serás bienvenido en Maryland. Ahora y Siempre. Dios lo bendiga.” That means, “You are always welcome in Maryland. Now and always. God bless you.”
The State of the State is delivered to Senators and Delegates in the House Chamber. They are elected and divided by political party. But the presence of Pastor Omar connected the audience as human beings, just as it did the residents of Easton.
If you’re still not convinced that Americans are yearning for an end to the division, the chaos, and the threats of war, and that we are now seeking the simple community and peace portrayed in the halftime show, then consider this.
A group of 24 Buddhist monks set out for Washington, D.C. from Texas on a Peace Walk in October. They walked 2,300 miles over 109 days, and ended at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands showed up on the route to honor them. The next day they got on a bus to Navy Stadium and walked to our Maryland State House.
I only heard about the monks early this week. I had to search social media to find out when they would be here. It seems that I wasn’t alone in wanting to welcome them. With no marketing effort whatsoever, they produced what I believe was the largest Annapolis crowd since Governor Moore’s inauguration. It was cold and it was windy, and the monks were an hour late, but this crowd was different than any I had experienced. There was no complaining. Only peace.
The people got what they came for, a glimpse and a message. Peace is a path. It starts within each of us. A simple life, mindfulness, and compassion make us feel better. Then it spreads to our families, our friends, our communities and the world.
It’s what we are yearning for, and that’s why we were so moved in the presence of these simple monks from a faraway land.
Welcome back, America, to who we really are.
Until next week…